What do I make of the SC Sea issue?

To stop unreasonable behaviour in the S C Sea through stress on reason, to shame unreasonable behavior (though not using baseless rhetoric), on top of patrols and provocations to reveal the true nature of Chinese reasoning and intention.

China has not seen to be able to be world leader since it cannot show itself to be reasonable in its dealing of its claim on the SC Sea. There is much "haze" going on in the propaganda in the Chinese media that the SC Sea actually belongs to China -- the Chinese media influence are both locally and overseas. In fact, I won't be surprised that propaganda happens in our local Chinese newspaper, as more foreign talents contribute articles in our papers. A factor to note and acted upon is: what percentage of content to our Lian He Zao Bao are contributed by Chinese nationals or naturalized citizens, who naturally carry a certain perspective to issues? (Singaporeans are lack of literary capabilities in Chinese to sustain our local Chinese paper.) I am surprised when some people close to me who only read the Chinese newspaper and watch mostly CCTV and PRC channels really think that China has a legitimate claim the SC Sea. But there has NOT been much facts and proofs released in public internationally other than an old map as basis. But the map, according to some academic research, is quite vague on what the 9-dash line stands for. Can one map drawn by a national ancestor legitimize claim to a place? (Let's draw some outrageous map now, so that our predecessors can use it to prove legitimate claim to some places that have not been mapped.)

China is showing itself to be unreasonable, not transparent in its rationale and still very heavy-handed, now even asserting its autocracy on the international scene, either through self-delusion of reality or through shaping a virtual reality. Propaganda and information control is what communist countries were very good at. The fact that she is not willing to seek international arbitration shows that her leaders do not think that the basis for the claim is strong enough.

China's handling of SC Sea issue exacerbates the poor impression of China in the international scene, and deepens the mistrust of nations in this area towards China. This issue also throws the spotlight on the situation of China's increasing assertiveness in East China islands and the Taiwan Straits. Though the merits for each claim is understandably different, China has made less progress over at East China and Taiwan because of a balance of power in those regions, unlike in SC China region. Korea and Japan are also staking strong claims on overlapping regions and willing to defend their claims and risk clashes. A different scenario occurs here, much progress has been made since small nations (who see themselves feeble--this is the key) provide the opportunity for China to aggressively reclaim land without protesting. Even so, these nations may take the impression of being "bullied" by size.

When Mr Xi came to power, I had positive views about him. But as events take their course, there is much to show an aggressiveness and heavy-handed handling of national ambition that cannot be hidden behind the smiling face of a seemingly kind elder. Whether the incongruences are because of internal differences within China's politicians or singlehandedly orchestrated by one man, is something left for the international public to wonder about.

A country or leader who wants to be a international figure and leader has to abide by international laws and be able to take international criticisms. If one's heart is not big enough, one will be perceived do more harm in the international scene than good.